//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Earth Pony Magic // Story: That Sunlit Glow // by Tiger|Pony //------------------------------// The tree-clearing work had gone on for eight hours. Three hours ago, with the storm abating, Rainbow Dash had been forced (against every feather of her being) up into the stormclouds to squeeze more out of them, to keep up the rain which plastered her mane to her back and made her sweetheart sob as she flew - the rain that they needed to do the job. Just over an hour ago, suffering the come-down from Twilight Sparkle's energising magics, Fluttershy had finally lost the strength in her wings and had ploughed into the ground shoulder-first and rolled to a stop. When it was over, Rainbow Dash had come down to earth, weak and shaking, and been slung over Big Mac's back for the journey home. When the evening sun burned a hole in the dissipating storm-clouds, then, this band of friends who had suffered and won were given some closure, a celestial reward for their efforts. And with the work done, and the farm saved, everypony felt there was plenty to party about. Applejack was beyond words with a delight which rose to far outshine the depths of the despair that the disease had forced her family into. Blinking back joyful tears, she grabbed Rainbow Dash and led her through an impromptu two-legged dance which seemed to mostly involve laughing and hugging, and sometimes spinning round in circles until they fell on their backs. She hugged Fluttershy forcefully, squeezing an enthusiastic, exhausted smile out of the sore pegasus. She all-but leapt on Rarity, her abject delight infectious enough that the tired unicorn didn't even complain about the leaves and dirt that the her friend left all over her. Lacking the cannon or most of her supplies, Pinkie Pie had set up the old barn as a party with little more than hay and imagination. Applejack, at the centre of the festivities, danced with her brother and cousins and anypony who came close enough to get pulled into her orbit. Twilight fired off bright magical flares that lit the barn with lively shadows. Rarity generously turned her impeccable hooves to massaging some of the worst of the day's exercise out of the two pegasi. And everypony danced with an elation in their step which would only make their muscles ache far worse in the morning, but which, for now, was simply the necessary way of the world. An hour after dusk, Rainbow Dash managed to tempt Fluttershy away from the milieu, behind a four-foot-thick barrier of hay-bales, and there she pulled her down on top of herself to nuzzle her with manic affection. Fluttershy giggled like a filly, so Dash giggled, so she giggled more; and this continued for a good few minutes before Fluttershy put an end to it with a sudden kiss. Dash's wings tensed, though they were trapped beneath her, and she returned the kiss. Running her forehoof through her marefriend's mane, she sighed as she considered their hay-bale fortress, as well as the reason it was necessary. They'd done it. They were the heroes of the day. And for the first time in her life, Rainbow Dash was genuinely, awesomely happy to share the laurels with somepony else. Surely now, surely tonight was the time to tell everypony why she was so happy. They shouldn't have to hide. Too tired or too happy to resist despite the risk, Fluttershy had lain in her marefriend's forelegs for all of twenty minutes before Dash, trying and failing at levity, said the unthinkable: "Hey, wouldn't it be hilarious if we got caught here?" And Applebloom, who by sheer chance was the only pony close enough to hear the panicked squeak and hissed conversation that followed, nudged her sister with a forehoof, and asked, with wide and innocent eyes, "What's a fillyfooler?" ----- There was a corner of that broken-down old barn set up as a den, with a blanket and a book to read, a barrel of cider and a thick bed of hay. Applejack explained that it was where Big Macintosh rested when his back started hurting again, and sometimes where he slept when he wanted time alone. Everypony needed some alone time, after all. Well, except maybe Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash lay on her back in the bed of hay, gazing up at the simple ceiling, and doing all her talking to it. Applejack leant on another hay-bale, resting her head on a forehoof, occasionally taking a swig from the mug of cider next to her. As calmly and clearly as she could, the pegasus related the day's events to her stoic friend. Applejack bit her lip once or twice as Dash accused their mutual friends of insensitivity, cruelty and "being stupid-heads", but managed not to interrupt. And when it was all done, the pegasus sighed and shook her head, and murmured an apology for all the things that she shouldn't have said. Applejack understood. She'd personally never had twenty-four hours in which quite so much had gone so badly wrong, let alone in which most of it was her fault. She could only imagine how her friend was feeling right now - angry, remorseful, scared - so what could she do to help? "Well, ah can't help y'all make it up with Pinkie Pie or Twilight, but y'ain't got no beef with me yet, so let's keep it that way, huh?" Applejack said. Rainbow Dash nodded mutely. "So... lemme lay this out nice an' simple. "You're walkin' out with Fluttershy. Flyin' out. Whatever. Y'all go picnickin' in the clouds an', ah dunno, read Darin'-Do to each other an' cutesy pegasus stuff. She says she's afraid o' ponies knowin' she's a fillyfooler, 'cos she don't know how they'll react, but she's gonna try real hard to work up the courage. "So y'all roll along fer a while, keepin' it quiet an' hopin' nopony notices. I'm guessin' y'all played a whole buncha Monopony with that bunny on the bank, but sure, y'all manage to get her up to Cloudsdale a couple times, an' sure y'all never miss a party. An' every time it's somethin' big, you get an itchy tongue. "So she figures if she can keep y'all in the house, an' down on the ground, then ya won't feel like you're gonna explode. But that don't work, 'cos now y'all ain't even out stretchin' your wings with her. So she starts findin' reasons not to do anythin'. "An' y'all're wonderin', maybe not wrongly, whatcha got left." There was a pause, and the tired pegasus sank slightly. "You don't have to say it like that," she sighed. "Honesty," Applejack said simply. Dash shifted uncomfortably in the bed of hay. Outside no birdsong, no rustling of leaves or branches made any noise to distract from that simple sound: 'Honesty'. So, what was on her mind? "This place..." No. Don't start there. "Y'know the... party..." No. Dash inhaled deeply. "Remember the Blue Leaf?" "How could ah forget?" Applejack smiled. "Y'all saved our flanks. We'd've been on oats outta town stores all winter, an'... in debt... an' worse." When the pegasi had arrived that morning, Applebloom had nuzzled up to them with tears in her eyes. She didn't want to have to leave school, but she'd have to help out more if the crop failed. "But hay, y'all flew better'n I've seen before or since. 'tweren't flashy, but it got the job done. Kinda like if ya put wings onta me." The farmpony grinned at her friend and hoofed the mug of cider over to her. "You couldn't fly right with that hat," Dash quipped back lazily. "Aw, horsefeathers to it, then. This hat's bigger'n the sky ta me, girl. Anyway..." "Y'know how we came back here... was it here?" The pegasus looked around, frowning. "Nah, it was the old north barn. The one y'all flattened." "Right." That stung. They all looked the same to her, these flimsy earthbound wooden things, but she'd destroyed the place they partied in on one of the best nights of their lives. That was a weird feeling. "...anyhoof, that night, I got her behind the haystack. It was kinda like... if we were there, and the music was playing, and all our friends were there, it wasn't really a secret at all. If I closed my eyes, it was like I was hugging her right out in front of all our friends. Y'know, like you do with your special somepony when the party's winding down?" "Ah wouldn't know. Ah ain't so much fer the pee-dee-ays," Applejack said with a wink, "But it's horses for courses, ain't it? Ah wouldn't buck y'all outta mah barn fer snugglin' up in a corner." "Waitaminute-" the pegasus sat bolt upright, "You aren't... does that mean you..." "Tell ya later, sugarcube," the farmpony smirked. "Carry on. Ah reckon ah know where this is goin'." Rainbow Dash bit her lip, and gave her friend a reproachful look. She flopped back down into the hay. "Anyway, we were both so happy, I said we should think about doing it right then and there." Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Now, that ah would buck y'all out for-" Dash laughed despite herself, "Not that! AJ, where do you get these ideas? I mean just... going out there and kissing her. Right in front of everypony. I knew it'd be fine, but she panicked, and-" "Hokay," Applejack held up a hoof. "This is where ah get off, sister. This is where your marefriend somehow managed to whisper so loud mah lil' sister heard her." Rainbow Dash choked on her cider, and spat it out into the hay. "She WHA-" she yelled, before Applejack silenced her with a well-timed hoof. She flailed incoherently, panicking, but the same compassion as had calmed her in the clearing shone out of those bright eyes, and it soothed her panic a little. "Whoa there!" the farmpony said reassuringly, "Hooves on the ground. Ah told her it was grown-up stuff. She was upset, Dash. She wanted ta know if she could help, or if anypony could. She was right darlin' 'bout the whole thing. An' when I said she didn't tell nopony 'bout none of it, she offered ta Pinkie-Pie Swear." She nodded to the hoof she still held in her friend's mouth. "Y'all gonna panic?" Dash shook her head, and spat out the hoof with a grimace. "So you found out then?" If there was a single deep and useful truth that everypony in Ponyville knew about the successful farmpony and saviour of Equestria who now sat opposite Rainbow Dash, it was her painful, embarrassing lack of a poker face. She couldn't keep a secret. Worse, though, she could even give away things she wasn't trying to keep secret. Dash read her friend's sudden tight-lipped expression like Daring-Do read hieroglyphs. "Wait, you knew before?" "Hoo, boy. Ah knew this weren't gonna be easy." Applejack rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. "When?" the pegasus demanded. "Hol' on, now, y'all said ya weren't gonna panic!" Rainbow Dash opened her mouth as if to retort - but held it just in time. "Hokay. Ah didn't know fer long before that. But Fluttershy asked me fer a favour, an', well, it weren't none too subtle. Y'all don't think any one pony could plant the Sky Garden on her own, do ya?" "I knew it!" Dash's wings flared, as if in triumph. "I mean... the Sky Garden, not that it was you. I always figured it might've been Zecora or something..." "Ver' clever, darlin'," Applejack said, so sincerely that it could only have been cleverly-disguised sarcasm. "So anyhoof, once it was over an' done, she cooked up about the best hot chocolate ah've ever tasted an' kinda... exploded." ----- "She's just the most wonderful amazing pegasus I've ever met, and she knows it, and I don't even mind that she knows it because she thinks I'm amazing. She's good with the animals, especially 'the awesome ones'." Applejack chuckled at Fluttershy's impression of her marefriend, which was terrible, but flattering. "That's what she calls the raptors. She keeps trying to fit a stoop into a trick. It's so funny watching a pegasus pouncing on a cloud! "And she's absolutely no good at Monopony, and she gets so wound up because Angel always beats both of us, so I have to hug her until she calms down, and then we fall asleep together. She sleeps so sweetly, you'd never think she was so loud while she's awake; by moonlight, she just looks so much softer, and she sounds softer too. And then she wakes up with the best bed-mane in the world, and she lets me brush it out for her. I can't think of anything I'd rather do when I wake up in the morning, except I always wake up an hour before her, so I go and feed the animals, and make a healthy breakfast of warm oats and honey. More honey for her, of course," the pegasus said with a giggle. "And she's beautiful. Oh, my heart misses a beat whenever we go swimming together in the river, or when she flaps down out of the clouds and she's all sweating and..." Fluttershy squeaked and blushed, shrinking slightly, and Applejack burst out laughing. "Oh my!" the pegasus laid her ears, and her wings, which had fluffed up, snapped back to her back, and she seemed to get smaller yet. Once Applejack had recovered herself and coaxed Fluttershy back to a state of calm, she went on, a little less overenthusiastically. "She's just so cool, and lots of ponies love her. I wish I could be like that, but I'm not cool or interesting, so I just keep to the animals. It's easier than trying and failing. And anyway, I was famous for a while, and I hated it." The pegasus shuddered as she remembered everything Photo Finish had made her do - not to mention being chased by fans and the trough press. "But... I think she wants me to be... more out there. So that ponies look at me and say 'That's Fluttershy - she's Rainbow Dash's'. So that ponies will just be able to look at me and know, because if they know who my marefriend is then they must already know that I like mares. She wants ponies to notice me." "And I don't know if I want that." ----- "She said ah couldn't tell anypony else," Applejack had edited the story for her audience; after all, she reasoned, Rainbow Dash already knew what she had for breakfast, and presumably how adorable her bed-mane was. "Ah told her ah was about the worst pony at keepin' a secret in Ponyville. So she made me... Promise. On a whole buncha terrible and outright nasty consequences. Your mare's got some imagination," she mused. "Hasn't she?" Dash sighed. It didn't hurt, now, to think of the good; or rather, it no longer hurt like the soulless emptiness that had stolen her wings from her while she flew that morning. But how come... "So why you?" she said, maybe a little too sharply; Applejack frowned. The pegasus shook her head, "I mean, why you when she said she couldn't tell anypony?" "Privacy an' secrecy ain't the same, hon," Applejack said simply. "She wants ta be private, but she thinks she has ta be secret. An she ain't told ya who she's told 'cuz she's afraid ya'd go runnin' yer mouth off." "WHA-" This time, Applejack had her hoof ready. Rainbow Dash growled quietly, and then sat back down, quietly fuming. Her wings fluttered impatiently, sending strands of hay drifting into the air. "Think of it like... well, heh..." Applejack blushed slightly, "let's say a friend o' mine thinks the Wonderbolts are dumb. They know that y'all love 'em, though, so they ain't gonna say nuthin' in front of y'all, are they?" "They better not!" "'zactly. Now perhaps they got their reasons fer thinkin' it, but in any case, they ain't ashamed, an' they ain't hidin' it. There's just some ponies they'd say it round, an' some ponies they wouldn't." "So they're keeping it secret!" Applejack sighed. This was going to take more effort than she had realised. "No, Dash. Look. If ya asked 'em 'bout it, they'd say it, only they'd say it polite-like, y'know? Like 'Ah don' think they're all that special'. But they don't go round talkin' trash 'bout 'em all the time - they'd have ta really hate 'em ta think like that. D'you get it?" But I do want to go round talking about her. I show off my tricks to everypony who'll sit still long enough, and she makes me feel just as awesome as that. How can I... not? Before she could reply, Applejack continued. "Did y'all ever go sayin' anythin' about how ya couldn't wait ta tell the world? How ya'd write her name in the clouds?" "The stars-" Dash said, before she could stop herself. That was a promise she'd made on their first night together, still high with the exultation of the Best Young Flyer laurels, which sat, slightly askew, on Fluttershy's head. The next day she would go to spend a day with the Wonderbolts, but tonight, and all the delight and all the power which seemed to crackle between her and her brand-new something-complicated were hers to spend however she liked. When she'd got used to the thrill of just being close to her old friend - oh, to do so truly would take months, but for the night, at least, she had to rest eventually - they had lain on their backs on a low cloud overlooking the dark streets of Ponyville and, snuggled up close for warmth, they had counted the stars in the moonlit sky. Dash rarely admitted knowing the names of the constellations, but in truth, as soon as her parents had let her out flying at night she'd become hooked. She had her nerdy side - not that she'd have ever admitted it. But they weren't permanent, as they both knew. The stars could move. And if Rainbow Dash had her way, she'd find a way to write their names on the night sky. "Yeah, sugarcube?" Applejack was, as ever, the voice of reality. "You do know, right... when y'all say that kinda stuff, it jus' scares her worse?" Rainbow Dash said nothing. Of course she knew. Of course she knew. But... how was she supposed to admit it could never happen? How could she admit that if she wanted Fluttershy, she had to put down the dream of... whatever it was she wanted. Being known, being loved - not as herself but as one half of something. Any fame she gathered to herself could never be shared. If her marefriend had her way, nopony would know she existed. "Do ya wanna make it better?" Applejack asked, her voice strangely quiet. Rainbow Dash nodded quickly, her eyes down. "Dash, look at me," the earth pony said. The pegasus met her friend's eye slowly, trembling. She didn't want to hear the question. The first time was easy. The second time had to be the truth. "Are ya sure y'all wanna make it better?" I don't wanna give up the dream. But if I don't give up the dream, I lose it anyway. But what am I without the dream? If I'm not cool, I'm nothing! How can I be the best if I'm uncool just 'cos I'm trying to keep some other pony happy? But she's not just some other pony, is she? And what's the point of being the best if you've got nopony to share it with? Something - perhaps pride, perhaps arrogance - something shifted inside her. It didn't hurt as much as she'd feared it would. She still wanted to be the best, and to be known for it, but that admission - that she wanted to share it, that there was no point doing any of it if she couldn't share it - that was new. Maybe. Maybe... it could just be our friends. If that's what it takes to keep her. Maybe I've just gotta change. Privacy isn't the same as secrecy. I guess... I never thought of it like that before. Privacy, not secrecy. Celestia burn my wings from my back if I break up a friendship over this. Luna send me to the moon if I hurt anypony I love. "I'm sure," she said, more certain of herself than she'd been in months. She shivered as her prayer to her Goddesses reverberated inside her skin. If she'd ever felt their touch - other than in person, of course - she felt it now, in a tingle which ran down her back and through her wings, in the faint sensation of being watched. "I'm sure," she said, and it seemed to her that it echoed. "Good," Applejack sighed and hung her head, her ears laid. She'd been holding her breath for an answer, and Celestia help her, for a moment there, watching her friend wrestle with something she hoped she would never feel, she'd been afraid. ----- And then it was gone. The crackle down her spine, the uncanny sense that she knew where the sun was in the sky, and that she knew because it had told her: and she was left alone with just a friend and a brain for company. The friend was reliable, the brain less so, for while Applejack at least appeared cheerful, her brain was providing little in the way of useful advice. Nothing's changed. You're still that same pony who hurt the pony she loved. Even if you've decided you want her back, who's to say she'll want you? "So... what can we do?" she asked, and her voice was full of the unspoken answer: Nothing. Applejack seemed to notice that, for she paused a moment to regard her with an unreadable expression. She grabbed back the forgotten mug of cider and downed the rest. "Well, ah don't rightly know straight away, but ah'll help however ah can," she said, shaking her hat off. A small flask fell out from underneath it. "Ah know how y'all go nuts fer our fine apple cider - ah don't think anypony's gonna forget y'all munchin' on dirt - but ah don't think that's enough fer today. If we're gonna get y'all fightin' fit, ah say we fill ya all the way up ta the backbone with the good stuff!" Rainbow Dash, still a little slow, flicked her tail at the mention of The Good Stuff. "You mean... hard cider?" she whispered so the censors wouldn't hear. She didn't think it was a bad idea, but... Applejack laughed mischievously. "You'll see." She emptied the small flask into the mug - it barely came up halfway - and hoofed it to her friend. "AJ... do you carry that round everywhere with you?" Dash said, accepting the mug with reverence. "Eeyup," the farmpony grinned. This didn't sound like a good thing. "Are you... sure you should be...?" "Try it." Rainbow Dash looked down. It smelled delicious, like no breed of apple she could name, but like apple itself. It looked like she imagined liquid gold might, the first sign of true colour to register to her grey-tainted eyes on this grey-lit day. And when she was brave enough to touch her lips to it, it tasted like love felt. It wasn't fermented. It wasn't for imparting that sort of unpredictable strength which would only drive a pony like Rainbow Dash to recklessness. It was just apple, seasoned with something exotic and exciting, cool and fresh-tasting; it was liquid perfection, and its strength was the love that beat the heart that moved the hooves that made it - love which, somehow, had distilled into the very taste of the thing. Molten gold poured over her and through her. She would never forget this moment. If she had said half the things she remembered saying last night, then she would have a long way to go to earn Fluttershy's love and trust again - but something in the mix was inspiring. Like a glimpse of the finishing line through the other contenders, Rainbow Dash was given a glimpse through the indistinct hardship that lay ahead, all the way to the prize, which shone with clarity and certainty in bright sunlit yellow and soft, delicate pink. They could work it out, because they weren't just in love: they were friends. "What is that?" Dash asked eventually, when she had regained her breath, when her hooves had stopped their imperceptible trembling. Her blue hooves, as blue as the sky she loved. Applejack - solid, reliable, orange Applejack - had settled her head on her hooves on top of her hay-bale, and regarded her friend with an unreadable expression. She was happy to help, but it looked to Dash's eyes like she were running through the answers she could give to that question. Eventually, her expression became almost sheepish, though her bright green eyes still held a glimmer of mischief - and she chose her answer. "Earth pony magic," she said, and it seemed that was enough. ----- Honesty and Loyalty walked back towards Ponyville in a slow step, heedless of the breeze. They talked while they walked; strategies, tactics, manoeuvres for the coming conversation. Applejack reasoned that there was no way Fluttershy would be at home at a time like this; she'd have needed to go to be with somepony else, and since she hadn't come to Sweet Apple Acres, she must have gone into the town itself. Dash gulped when she realised one other of their friends must know - and especially when she realised who. If Pinkie Pie hadn't known about them, and if it was news to Twilight Sparkle, and she wasn't very close to anypony but the five of them... Rarity. Uh-oh. "Why is it the unicorns I'm afraid of?" the pegasus asked nervously. "'cos they can make swords outta, like, stringin' diamonds together, an' Rarity's house is full of diamonds?" Applejack said with a wink. That book had done the rounds of the six friends a few months ago, and even the farmpony had read it from cover to cover. Rainbow Dash swallowed for a second, before she remembered where the idea came from. She kicked her friend in the shoulder with a forehoof. "Don't scare me like that!" she yelled, and Applejack reared and cantered off, laughing all over her freckled face. ----- "So why was Applebloom wandering round by her own, anyway?" Dash enquired, as they rounded a bend in the road. At some point in the scuffle she had ended up with Applejack's hat, and the farmpony had let her keep it for the time being. She'd said it looked very... Daring. "Y'all didn't hear 'bout Sweetie Belle?" The pegasus shook her head, looking concerned. "Scootaloo got the three of 'em on rollerblades, an' it didn't go so well. Sweetie Belle went down hard on 'er head. Anyway, she ain't hurt bad, but her magic went crazy, an' now she changes colour every half-hour. So Rarity's tryna fix it, an' Twilight's workin' the books, an' Scoot's grounded, so Applebloom ain't got nopony ta play with fer a while." "So why were you there?" "Ah found her homework sittin' on the kitchen table right where ah put it out for her. Ah came out ta send her back to it." "D'you think she's okay?" Dash said, her head sinking slightly. "I don't like ponies seeing me like that, but... I hope she's okay..." Applejack stopped and laid a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "Y'all might not think it of 'er, but she's a strong lil' filly, that one. Ah'll tell 'er what she needs ta know when ah get back. In the meantime, she knows not to tell aught ta none but kin." "Kin? You mean your whole family might know by now?" "Sugarcube, they knew the night o' the party. But we Apples know when somethin' ain't none of our business, an' we know ta leave it well alone. We'd never kick up a fuss 'bout somethin' so simple as love." Applejack frowned in thought. "Well, maybe 'cept... y'all might wanna watch out fer Granny Smith. She'd buck y'all right through the wall if'n she caught ya like that with yer gal, hip or no hip." Rainbow Dash's eyes widened, and she swallowed nervously. "She... hates fillyfoolers?" There was a moment of silence, and Applejack blinked in confusion. Then she broke out in heartfelt laughter. "Why hay, 'course not, silly filly! She don't care who y'all're steppin' out with! She just thinks it's wrong fer ponies ta 'bout as much as hold hooves 'fore they're married!" There was warmth in her voice, and the laugh stayed with her as set off walking again. "Yeah, she's kinda old-fashioned like that..."